Someone took great pains to clean up the gruesome evidence in Kira and Jeffery D. Trevino’s bedroom, living room, hallway, bathroom, basement stairs and basement. But blood remained throughout the house, on the wheels of a carpet cleaner and in Kira Trevino’s car.

So much blood, in fact, that police came to a grim conclusion: Kira Trevino — missing for nearly a week — was dead. And her husband had killed her.

In the criminal complaint, the word “blood” appears 17 times.

The complaint charged Jeffery Trevino, 39, with two counts of murder in the death of his wife.

Trevino made his first appearance in Ramsey County District Court on Thursday, Feb. 28, hours after he was charged. Judge Teresa Warner set bail at $1 million.

The prosecution had asked for $500,000. Defense attorney John Conard requested $100,000.

Kira Trevino’s sister clapped upon hearing the bail pronouncement.

Kira Trevino, 30, has been missing since Feb. 22.

Investigators concluded that the amount of blood found in the Trevino house and the fact that it was uncharacteristic for Kira Trevino to be missing gave them probable cause to conclude she was dead, according to the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Among other evidence, they found on the underside of the bedroom carpet a large bloodstain in the shape of a human head and torso, the criminal complaint said.

Conard said Trevino and his family were grieving.

“They hope that Kira will be found alive and well, but if she’s not, they hope police will go and find the person responsible for this, because they’re pointing in the wrong direction at this time,” the defense lawyer said.

Trevino took “a number of evasive actions,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said at a news conference.

According to the complaint:

Trevino called St. Paul police Sunday to report his wife missing. She had left their home in the 500 block of East Iowa Avenue on Friday morning to run errands, he said, and did not show up the next day for her job at Mall of America.

He said she had been lying about where she had been staying and had been having a “midlife crisis” lately, staying with friends for two or three days at a time.

Later Sunday, the missing woman’s mother told police that the couple had been having marital problems. She said she was concerned that Jeffery Trevino might have hurt her daughter.

Trevino told investigators that he and his wife had talked Feb. 20 and decided to work on their relationship. They scheduled a date night for the next day and met at the mall, where they ate dinner. Later, they went bowling at Sky Deck and then watched a video together at home, he said.

On the morning of Feb. 22, Trevino said his wife left about 8:30 in her Chevrolet Cobalt. He said she was going to work out, go to a tanning session and then go to work.

That was the last time he saw her, Trevino said.

Kira Trevino’s gym, LA Fitness in New Brighton, told police she last reported there to work out Feb. 20. The tanning center said she had not been there since Feb. 9. She did not report to work Friday, co-workers at Delia’s clothing store said.

Her debit card was last used at a gas station near the Trevino home about 2:15 a.m. Feb. 22. Video surveillance showed a man in gray pants and gray hooded sweatshirt filling up the car. Trevino told police he offered to fill up his wife’s car that night.

The video also showed the Cobalt leaving the gas station lot and heading west toward Interstate 35E, instead of east on Larpenteur Avenue, the most direct route to the Trevino home.

Kira Trevino’s family told investigators she had talked about problems she and Jeffery Trevino had been having. She was unhappy in the marriage and talked about moving out, she told them. The last anyone heard from her was about 6 p.m. Feb. 21, when she left work.

The last call from her cellphone was 10 p.m. that day, records showed.

Mall of America security officers found her car in the parking lot. The tow operator found “a substance consistent with blood” around the trunk opening. Also found nearby: a trunk liner with apparent blood. Tests confirmed it was human blood. Police ordered the car towed to an impound lot.

Police searching the Trevino home found “copious amounts” of blood.

According to the complaint, there was “blood on the floor, box spring mattress, bed frame, book shelf, closet door, baseboard trim and west wall.”

The wooden frame of the box spring on the bed was broken. Besides the carpet bloodstain in the shape of a head and torso, large amounts of blood were found on the living room floor, in the hallway and bathroom, on the landing at the top of the basement stairs, the basement floor and in front of the washing machine.

An investigator with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said blood-spatter evidence suggested that the victim was struck forcefully more than once, the complaint said.

There was also evidence that someone had tried to do extensive cleanup.

Police found on the kitchen counter bleach-stained towels and a bottle of bleach spray cleaner; in a hallway outside the main floor bathroom, they found a mop and bucket and a carpet cleaner with blood on its wheels and brush area.

The Arkansas Razorbacks sweatshirt that Trevino told police he was wearing Feb. 21 was hanging, “freshly washed” and drying near the washer.

Surveillance video of the Mall of America parking lot showed someone parking the Cobalt at 9:45 a.m. Friday. It also showed a person at the back of the vehicle can be seen throwing away what appeared to be a trunk liner and getting into an Airport Cab. A GPS tracker in the taxi indicated it traveled to a spot within a block of the Trevino home.

It’s rare — and challenging — to prosecute a murder case without a body, said Choi, the county attorney. “However, it is possible to obtain a conviction,” he said.

Trevino hasn’t been helpful in locating his wife’s body, Choi said

Jeffery Trevino’s family, a group of 10 who sat in the courtroom holding hands, declined to comment Thursday. He remained jailed, and his next court appearance was scheduled for March 14.

Kira Trevino’s family left the courtroom without talking to reporters.

There is no history of police calls to the couple’s home or court filings showing domestic problems.

Kira Trevino graduated in 2001 from D.C. Everest Senior High School in Schofield, Wis., near Wausau. A vigil for the missing woman was scheduled for Friday at Bethany Baptist Church in Weston, Wis.

“We want to pray for Kira to be found,” said the Rev. Aaron Winowiski, who will lead the service.

Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228-5262.

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